Hackle for artificial fishing fly and method of making same



Oct. 31, 1939. GRANT 2,178,301

HAGKLE FOR ARTIFICIAL FISHING FLY AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed March 27, 1939 5602376 "fimaij ATTORNEYS WITNESS Patented Oct. 31, 1939 UNITED STATES f'rsnr FFi 'HAOK L E FOR ARTIFICIAL FISHING FLY AND METHOD OF MAKING SAMIE George F. Grant. Butte, Mont. Application March 27, 1939, Serial No. 264,450

2 Claims This invention relatesito a hackle for. artificial fishing flies and the me'thod'of making the same. I-Iair, which is lashed on to the shank of a hook by successive bindings of silk thread expands on a feather hackle." The advantage of this is that the woven hair hackle can be used in place i of a feather on any type of fly where the feather is now used, which is not true of hair that is lashed to the hook with silk thread or other bindings.

It is practically impossible to apply hair to a hook by lashing it on with a flexible binding so that it encircles the hook evenly at all points and will not bunch and destroy the life-like-appearance of the fly. Itis therefore another object of the invention to produce a method of constructing a hair hackle in which the hair is distributed evenly on all sides of the fly as it is wound around the shank of the hook. I

It is frequently necessary to trim hair hackles in order to make them conform to the size of the fly to which they are applied, which trimming tends to lessen the intended similarity between the artificial fly and natural insect. To eliminate this disadvantage the present invention provides a method of constructing a hackle that retains the natural tapering ends of the individual fibers of hair.

With the above and other objects in View the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, it being understood that various modifications may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fly equipped with a hair hackle constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a hair hackle constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a fly showing one of the steps of applying the hackle to the shank of the hook.

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the weaving of the hair hackle in accordance with the invention.

V v 5 Referring now to the drawing in which like characters of reference designate similar parts in the various views, as best shown in Figure i,

a silk thread it is looped around a fixed upright H "and a knot i2 is tied near the loose ends. -1

The thread is then stretched tight and the loose ends gripped in the jaws of a vise i3.

Several strands of hair with the fingers of the left it are now grasped hand and the tip or tapering ends of the hair are laid on'the flat side of a smallruler; not shown, the tips of the hair being disposed to extend to any desired dimension mark on the ruler depending upon the size of the hackle to be woven. The strands of hair 14 are then gripped with a small pair of tweezers 0 it at the point Where the hair first comes in contact with the ruler. This procedure is performed with the subsequent strands of hair which are used to form the hackle and enables the operator to control the size of the hackle so that it is not 26 necessary to trim oii the tip ends in order to make the hackle conform to the size of the hook it on which it is tied.

The entire assembly of tweezers i5 and strands of hair i i is then held by the butt ends of the 30 hair with the fingers of one hand and then the tweezers with the tip ends of hair M projecting therefrom, are passed through the loop IE! of silk thread at the right of the knob 52. The tweezers [5 are then raised until the jaws thereof. are flush with the underside of the silk thread It. To perform the actual Weavingstep in the process,

the butt ll of the hairs is wound about the rear strand is of the loop and then passed forwardly under both strands as shown at 119. Then the hair is passed up over the front strand 2|] of the loop, as shown .at 2!, and then downwardly between the strands l8 and 28 as shown at 22. A half hitch 23 is then formed over both strands i8 and 20 by the hairs, and the hairs are then pulled up closely and pushed against the knot 32. The half hitch prevents the hair from unraveling. The butt of the hairs is then cut off close to the strands i 8 and 20 of the silk thread and the tweezers removed from the tip ends of the hair. The process as above described is repeated until the desired length of hackle is produced as shown in Figure 2, each group of strands of hair being slid up closely against the immediately preceding group and knotted to prevent the hair from slipping.

In the completed hair hackle the tip ends of the hair project in a close fringe from the silk threads 68 and 26, when the hackle is completed by severing the thread loop close to the upright and forming a knot 24 therein to tie the severed ends together.

The completed hair hackle shown in Figure 2 is then attached to the shank of the hook I6 at a point back of the eye 25 through the medium of the silk thread it] upon which the hair hackle is Woven. To apply the hackle the inner ends of the strands l8 and 26 are applied to the hook shank and the hackle is Wound around the hook shank near the eye 25 of the hook and securely fastened with the outer ends of the threads 18 and 29. It will be observed by referring to Figure 1 that when the hackle is wound in several convolutions about the shank of the hook the hair is distributed evenly on all sides of the fly so that bunching of the hair is eliminated and life-like appearance of the fly is promoted.

In actual practice, I extensively employ other materials which are similar in appearance and texture to hair but cannot be correctly defined as hair. For instance, the Du Pont Company has recently developed a product bearing the trade name of Nylon, which, among other uses, is being used to replace bristle and hair in brushes. This product can be obtained in filaments that are no thicker than coarse hair, and my experiments reveal that hackles can be woven with it in exactly the same way that hair is used. Because of the many desirable features of Nylon, I feel that eventually the bulk of my hackles will be woven from this material in preference to hair. At the present time I am also employing board bristle to a certain extent, and this can not be properly classified as hair. Therefore, wherever hair is used in the specification and claims, I intend the scope of the word to include bristles, fiber or like material.

From the above description it is thought that the construction and operation of the invention will be fully understood without further explanation.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of forming a hair hackle comprising looping a silk thread upon itself to provide front and rear strands, tying the ends of the strands together with a knot, passing the tips of hair through the loop for a predetermined distance, holding the butt ends of the hairs against the underside of the loop, winding the butt ends of the hairs about the rear strands and forwardly under both strands then up over the front strand and then downwardly between the strands, then forming a half hitch over both strands by the hairs, pulling the hairs up closely and pushing the same against the knot, and cutting the butt ends of the hairs close to the strands.

2. In a hackle, front and rear silk thread strands, knots formed in the ends of the strands to tie the strands together, and groups of hair tips of the same length knotted at the butt ends to said strands and projecting from the same side of the strands in uniform spaced relationship, said strands forming a narrow .rib comparable in size to the quill of a feather hackle.

GEORGE F. GRANT. 

